8 Technology Ideas to Complement Your Catalog

Did you know that printed catalogs help drive online sales? If you weren’t aware of that fact, watch this video that explains how the two work hand-in-hand. 2017 is now upon us and it is the year of the mobile shopper. As we think about how print drives online sales, we’ve compiled some ideas that may help you increase your digital catalog sales in the coming year.

To increase average order values, utilize recommendation tools (like Amazon does) that suggest similar or complementary product options for shoppers.

Analytic and website measurement tools are a must for any e-commerce website. Knowing how many visitors are coming to your site, who they are, and how often they visit are key measurements to ensure you’re getting traffic. Setting up goals for various actions will help you track conversion rates.

Mobile is where it’s at these days. Tablets and smartphones continue to dominate the landscape, so your website should be optimized for mobile (ask your developer for a “responsive design”) to ensure this retail channel is available for those shoppers who want to buy this way. A good start to engage mobile customers is to deploy your first mobile app. You’d be surprised how easy and inexpensive this can be.

To increase sales, be sure to send e-mail messages triggered from abandoned shopping carts. Make sure these messages are personalized and that they have specific offers in the message.

Consumers are always looking for a deal, so do you have sales or clearance pages? These are the first place most people look when visiting a retail website.

Add customer ratings or reviews to your website. Consumers want to know how the product performs and there’s nothing better than other shopper reviews to confirm this for them. Don’t be afraid of low ratings. Other satisfied customers can negate the negative feedback, and/or a proper commenting tool will provide you with the capability to respond.

Can your website visitors search by price, brand, product number, or other attributes? Filters help your consumers find what they want quickly and help avoid them leaving your website for another that has these features.

Do your images offer multiple views? Sometimes one picture isn’t enough to accurately represent the product and its features. Don’t be afraid to include a lifestyle image or demo video. These help consumers better understand the product and influence the decision to buy.

What are the other ideas you plan to deploy in 2017 to help increase sales?